Moon Landing Anniversary: A Giant Leap for Britain, Too
President Kennedy's speech to Congress in 1961, in which he unveiled the Apollo programme to an amazed public, has gone down in history. "I believe," he said, "that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." In case anyone was in any doubt about the patriotic nature of this mission, he made it crystal clear in subsequent passages: "It will not be one man going to the Moon… it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there."
The success of Project Apollo in landing a man on the Moon, 40 years ago this month, has become an emblem of American might and know-how: a vast technical and organisational undertaking, involving 400,000 people, to demonstrate the superiority of America over the Soviet Union.
Yet what is overlooked is that while the great bulk of those involved were indeed American citizens, there was also a significant foreign contribution, in particular from Britain. One engineer was so important that President Nixon would later admit that without his work, the Moon landing of July 21, 1969 would have been impossible.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
The success of Project Apollo in landing a man on the Moon, 40 years ago this month, has become an emblem of American might and know-how: a vast technical and organisational undertaking, involving 400,000 people, to demonstrate the superiority of America over the Soviet Union.
Yet what is overlooked is that while the great bulk of those involved were indeed American citizens, there was also a significant foreign contribution, in particular from Britain. One engineer was so important that President Nixon would later admit that without his work, the Moon landing of July 21, 1969 would have been impossible.